A Stuyvesant High School senior suspended for participating in a massive cheating ring has sued New York City over damage done to the student’s prospects for admission to an elite college.

The student, who wasn’t identified in court papers, claims the city ignored state regulations by unilaterally canceling scores on U.S. history, English and physics Regents without allowing the student to provide a defense. A judge on Tuesday denied the student’s immediate request to both reinstate the test scores and block the city from informing colleges about disciplinary measures.

The student’s lawyer, Michael Rakower, said his client only received text messages after one exam and wrote back asking for the texts to stop. He said it’s unclear what evidence the Department of Education has against the student.

A spokeswoman for the city’s law department said: “The DOE acted appropriately in this situation.”

In July, the DOE canceled students’ test scores. Students who were unable to retake the exams in August must now wait until January, after most college applications are due.

After hearings or conferences with students in September, the Department of Education suspended 45 students for five days and 12 students for 10 days. Another five students who faced suspension were instead given three days of after-school detention. Two students’ cases were dismissed, and another two decisions are still pending.

Rakower said education officials should have let his client give a defense and question anyone with personal knowledge of the incident before canceling the test scores. He also said the DOE made the decision, not Stuyvesant Principal Jie Zhang, as state regulations required; Zhang didn’t respond to a request for comment. She took over this summer after Stuyvesant’s longtime principal, Stanley Teitel, resigned during the investigation into his handling of the incident.

The DOE said the shorter suspensions handed down to students won’t go on their transcripts, but Rakower said colleges will still be able to determine which Stuyvesant students were involved in the cheating ring. A standard application form asks schools to mark whether the applicant has ever been suspended.

“Every college admissions officer in the country is aware of the scandal at Stuyvesant,” Rakower said. “In this world of highly competitive college applications, any red flag is likely to be the factor that’s used against the applicant.”